Macedonia Jails Albanian Terrorism Trial Protesters

The Skopje criminal court on Wednesday convicted the protesters of “participating in a crowd that was involved in criminal activity” and vandalising and throwing missiles at the court building during the unrest earlier this month.

They were ordered to pay a total of about 26,000 thousand euro for the damage to the criminal court building.

The defence complained that the sentences were too harsh and that the protesters were convicted without substantial evidence, and announced its intention to appeal.

“We are shocked by the verdict. None of the six defendants was part of the crowd that demolished the court but the revulsion of the court was obviously shown through the sentencing,” said Ljupco Veselinovski, the defence lawyer for some of those convicted.

Running battles erupted in the capital on July 4 as several thousand ethnic Albanian protesters tried to storm the court, only to be forced back by riot police using water cannon, tear gas and stun grenades.

The protests erupted after six ethnic Albanians were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to life in prison for the execution-style killing of five young ethnic Macedonians near Skopje in 2012.

Their supporters insisted that the case was politically motivated and anti-Albanian, and that the defendants were innocent.

“This is an unprecedented scandal. Innocent people are being convicted without any evidence. All of this is done in order to ensure the continuation of the policies of [Prime Minister Nikola] Gruevski, [Police Minister Gordana] Jankuloska and [the head of the junior ruling Albanian party] Ali Ahmeti, which are bathed in blood,” said Fatmir Abdulovski on Wednesday after his son Adem was convicted for vandalizing the court.